CTfastrak: Fines For Fare Evasion Begin Now

NEW BRITAIN — CTfastrak has a message for riders who don't pay their fare: The time of warnings is over.

Starting this week, fare inspectors onboard CTfastrak buses will start issuing $75 summonses to riders who don't have proof of payment, the Department of Transportation said Tuesday.

Stations along the new 9.4-mile busway have fare vending machines near the platforms so that riders pay in advance, a way to reduce the time wasted at stops by getting buses back up to speed as quickly as possible.

Since CTfastrak began charging for rides in early April, its enforcement agents have been directed to do no more than warn people who haven't paid. The agents escort such passengers off the bus at the next station where they can either leave or use the fare machine to purchase a ticket and then board the next bus.

"Now that riders are more familiar with our new proof of payment system and how to use our ticket vending machines, we will be fully implementing our fare collection policy," state Transportation Commissioner James Redeker said in a statement Tuesday.

HARTFORD — CTfastrak riders are getting a chance from now until June 24 to suggest improvements to the state's new bus rapid transit system.

Buses on CTfastrak routes this week started carrying paper copies of a survey that passengers can fill out during their ride. The busway operations center...

HARTFORD — CTfastrak riders are getting a chance from now until June 24 to suggest improvements to the state's new bus rapid transit system.

Buses on CTfastrak routes this week started carrying paper copies of a survey that passengers can fill out during their ride. The busway operations center...

(DON STACOM)

CTfastrak has reported that significantly more than half of its riders use CT Transit extended passes, and a percentage of the rest must pay onboard with cash because they get on at stops in Farmington, Bristol or elsewhere that don't have the new fare machines.

Along the busway itself, riders are directed to pay their fare on the platform because that moves the buses through much faster. There are no turnstiles or other barriers, and riders with individual tickets simply get on and go.

Light rail systems in Denver, Baltimore, Newark, Seattle, Minneapolis and elsewhere use similar fare collection methods. The idea is to speed up operations by sharply reducing the time that buses wait at stops as passengers line up to put dollar bills and change into fare boxes.

Or enjoy a buck off the cost of lunch, a discount on a haircut or — for the adventurous — maybe a plate of deep-fried catfish fingers.

Starting this month, CTfastrak riders can use their proof-of-payment receipts or tickets to get discounts at nearly 20 central Connecticut...

(DON STACOM)

For the system to work, though, transit agencies employ fare inspectors who are assigned to randomly ride buses or light rail trains. Passengers are advised at the station that they must show proof of fare payment when asked, and are subject to penalties if they haven't paid.

The transportation department had to get special legislation allowing its staff to issue summonses to fare-beaters. Previously, state law carried only the charge known as "theft of services," which entails an arrest and lengthy paperwork.

"Compliance with the proof of payment fare policy has been very high so far. But experience from other rapid transit operations around the country and the world that run proof of payment fare systems indicates that in the long term, compliance drops without some level of enforcement," said Michael Sanders, transit administrator.

The enormous Metro system in Minneapolis deploys police officers to randomly enforce fares, and charges violators $180. Even so, an audit this spring concluded that up to 10 percent of riders are evading fares, costing the system as much as $1.5 million a year. Denver's light rail line imposes a $100 fine and warns fare cheats that the penalty is considered a criminal conviction on their records.

The Baltimore region's light rail system reported conducting more than 1.9 million fare inspections last year, and said it found the evasion rate was only 2.2 percent. Even so, that meant its agents issued more than 2,400 citations.

The fare for CTfastrak is $1.50 for up to two hours of travel, or $3 for an all-day pass.